There are many contexts in which a person may wish to make a swinging motion. For one reason or another, a person may wish to practice, or alter, or improve that motion, whether as a matter of training for a sporting activity, or as exercise.
Exemplary athletes in sports such as tennis, baseball and ice hockey, to swing their respective piece(s) of equipment along a perfectly circular arc. The equipment begins its trajectory from behind the body and travels a circular arc all the way around the body to a finishing point. To acquire a masterful swing, the athlete must spend countless hours on the playing surface, and train away from the playing surface. For example, in tennis, the on-court time comprises of shot-making repetitions and other activities, such as picking up balls, resting, waiting for ball to return from the opponents' side etc. Even when one receives private lessons in tennis, a significant amount of time is spent picking up balls and other activities. Whereas when one exercises in a gym facility, he or she can perform concentrated exercises. However, most gym facility equipment is designed for linear motion (ex. bar bells, dumbbells, squat bars, etc.). What athletes need is an apparatus that allows them to swing their piece(s) of sport equipment in a gym-type environment without the wasteful activities like picking up balls or waiting for balls to be returned from opponents. This concentrated training can be done without having to book a court or schedule a time with an opponent. The issues listed above are addressed by this invention.
As shown above, mastering a sport swing requires swinging a particular piece of sport equipment through a curved arc. To excel at such swings, one must train the body's muscles to coordinate this kinematic motion. There does not exist an exercise training apparatus that allows an athlete or sportsman to train their muscles to guide the sport equipment trajectory though a curved arc repeatedly and reliably. The current invention addresses this need.
There have been a variety of swing exercise trainers produced in the past. For example, Californian fitness company, Fitness Anywhere LLC, has recently released a product called the TRX Rip Trainer. To use this product, the user connects one end of a resistance band to an anchoring mechanism and the other to approximately a one-meter long rigid shaft. One can then practice swinging this shaft with elastic-like resistance. This product works the core (and possibly other) muscles during a rotary swinging motion. However, it only provides one type of resistance that is not uniform and not programmable. In contrast, most swings, whether they are in tennis, hockey or baseball, require different forces along the swing trajectory. With the TRX product, one could be performing a different motion each time, which would take away from any consistency that the user aims to establish by using the product. Additionally, a person may be swinging the shaft incorrectly, reinforcing bad habits like poor form. Another limitation of the Rip Trainer is that the resistance band will likely contact the person as he or she makes the swing, which may be an annoyance. The Rip Trainer also has only one simple shaft; a shaft that is like certain pieces of sport equipment but not identical to them. If one is after reinforcing a habit of swinging in a circular planar path, then one wants to train with a specific apparatus such as a racquet/hockey stick/baseball bat that has as few modifications as possible. The best players practice like they play.
Fitness products that focus on circular motion do exist and are popular among a significant amount of people. For example, a company called Gytrotonic has a product called the Pulley Tower. This product allows users to work their shoulder joints in a fluid circular motion, increasing strength, balance and range of motion. It is very popular and there are a number of workout programs that one can implement when using this company's products. This equipment is focused on exercise regimens but cannot be used for reinforcing a habit of swinging in a circular planar path. Furthermore, the Pulley Tower is limited in the variety of circular motions/exercises that it offers and cannot be used for swing training.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,186,910 describes a swing-training machine. It consists of a vertical arm that rotates around a stand with a rider that moves along the arm. The rider is connected lo this apparatus via a tether that attached to a sport handle. This machine is limited in that it does not consist of a circular track, and the users of this machine are only able to perform circular motion exercises in or near the horizontal circular trajectory, is not designed for exercise regimens aimed at developing the core and specific muscle groups that require motions in the near-vertical plane. In addition, exercise regimens that require the simultaneous training of left and right halves of the body cannot be accommodated on this machine.
There have been a variety of core-activating, twisting and swinging machines that are available online and at general sports clubs, etc. Some golf swing trainers possess circular guide rails that promote twisting and circular motion of the body. These apparatus are limited in that they do not offer programmable resistances along the swing path. The set circle diameter on these swing-training machines is also limits these apparatus to very few pieces of sport or activity equipment to be used; golf trainers only work with golf clubs. These apparatus do not accommodate equipment length variations, and, for example, cannot be used for tennis training.
Many swing training machines and methods used in the past have been flawed in other ways. For example, the weight attachments that baseball players connect to their bats while they warm up in an on-deck circle may produce excess and unnecessary downward force to be placed on the barrel of the bat a force that is not present during a normal swing. A machine that does not have a downward pull during the swing is required.
Several single and dual-cable machines that exist on the market today are limited in the range of motion due to the length of cable. In addition the user may get tangled up with the wire during an exercise, which can be very uncomfortable or painful, or both. An apparatus is needed that allows the user to work in a full range of motion without the cable hitting the user during use.